Bujumbura - Dozens of senior officials in Burundi's ruling party have urged President Pierre Nkurunziza to abandon a quest for a third term this June to avoid renewed violence in the landlocked central African nation.
Some 79 members of the CNDD-FDD Party wrote to Nkurunziza on Monday, a spokesperson for the group said on Thursday, joining a rising chorus of critics saying he cannot run again under the terms of a 2000 deal to end years of fighting between Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups.
The party responded by sacking 10 initial signatories, including Nkurunziza's spokesman, the party's spokesperson, three members of parliament and a provincial governor, newly-appointed CNDD-FDD spokesperson Gelase Ndabirabe said.